Have you ever heard the phrase “Don’t let anyone get your goat” and wondered what it meant? One theory about its origin says it comes from the use of goats as companions for racehorses so they can be calm and focused. If someone removes a horse’s goat, the horse can become unsettled and agitated, hurting his race.
In our lives, if someone or something annoys, irritates, or angers us, we can realize that our “goat,” our natural, God-derived calm and peace, can never really be taken away.
The First Commandment in the Old Testament of the Bible tells us not to have other gods before the one God (see Exodus 20:3). This commandment helps us see that our dear Father-Mother God loves, guides, and protects us. God, Spirit, our only Mind, impels us not to bow down to any supposed material gods, such as anger or frustration, that would seem to “get our goat.”
Every day gives us the opportunity to practice obeying this commandment and living the Golden Rule Christ Jesus gave us (see Matthew 7:12). And as we do, we realize it is natural to express Christly qualities of happiness and health. It’s unnatural, in fact spiritually impossible, to be impelled by annoyance, anger, or fear, when we are governed by divine Love.
Turning to God can keep us calm and at peace, even when feeling attacked. Because we are made in the image and likeness of God, Love is the law of our being. We can respond with love and remember that we are saved from letting anything “get our goat,” for we are promised, “He who gains self-knowledge, self-control, and the kingdom of heaven within himself, within his own consciousness, is saved through Christ, Truth” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 161).
From the December 2016 issue of The Christian Science Journal
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Don’t let anyone get your Goat
